Most conventional food cooking vessels (such as frying-pans, saucepans, etc.) have grips or handles enabling the vessel to be gripped even when hot. In particular, frying-pans (by which are meant cooking vessels with low lateral walls with respect to the diameter of the vessel) normally comprise elongated handles, normally made of polymer material, which project radially from and are fitted, e.g. screwed or riveted, to the lateral wall of the pan.
Frying-pans with traditional handles are of considerable overall width, precisely on account of the handle, which may even be of a length comparable to the diameter of the pan itself. The overall size of frying-pans (or other similar vessels) is a problem not only for makers, distributors and retailers (e.g. in terms of transport and storage), but also for users, both when the pans are not in use (e.g. difficulty fitting the pans inside cupboards or dish-washing machines) and in actual use, in which case the handles may prevent simultaneous use of a number of vessels on the same cooking range. Moreover, the handles, particularly those projecting from the range, may be knocked accidentally, thus tipping over the pan and possibly resulting in serious injury to the user.